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NARBO is an ambassador and champion of OECD
Water Governance Initiative
(Report of the OECD Water Governance Initiative 7th Meeting
in the Netherlands)

 


Tadashige KAWASAKI
NARBO Secretariat in Japan Water Agency

 

 

      NARBO has been contributing to the Organization for Economy and Cooperation Development (OECD) Water Governance Initiative (WGI) which aims to share good practices in support of better governance in the water sector through providing technical platforms and consultation mechanisms since March 2013. OECD launched “Stakeholder Engagement for Inclusive Water Governance ” including the water governance indicators for stakeholder engagement at the 7th World Water Forum. ‘OECD Principles on Water Governance‘ was welcomed at the OECD’s Ministerial committee in June 2015, and the first phase of WGI completed by producing concrete achievements.


   As a next step, OECD came to think of re-convening WGI toward the 8th World Water Forum which would be held in Brazil in March 2018. The next phase activities are composed of i) Development of Indicators and ii) Collection of good practices to implement ‘OECD Principles on Water Governance’. Approximately 130 organizations agreed to contribute to the 2nd phase activities, and the 7th meeting of WGI to discuss the details of the 2nd phase activities was held in Den Haag, the Netherlands on 23-24 June, 2016 hosted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, Government of the Netherlands. Approximately 100 delegates from governments, international organizations, RBOs, NGOs and private companies joined the meeting. Directions of OECD WGI were introduced by OECD, and ways to link them with SDGs goals on water and UN activities on water such as High-level Panel on Water , Architecture , HABITAT III and COP22 were discussed.


   NARBO introduced the result of IWRM training which was held in Bangkok with the support of Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand on 14-16 June, 2016 and how to use OECD Water Governance Indicators and NARBO’s ‘IWRM Indicator’. NARBO stressed the necessity of i) Linking with international discussions and field on water resources management in an effective way, ii)Good practices and investment to enhance implementation at field level and iii) Fostering people’s mind to serve for the people and ecosystems in the basin. It was well welcomed by OECD and participants of the meeting. NARBO committed to contribute to the 2nd phase of OECD WGI by offering good examples of practices in the basin in Asia and voices from the field.


   OECD will launch “Flood Risk Governance” which is applying the OECD Principles on Water Governance to flood risk management. and the initial consultation discussion was held prior to that launch. NARBO has already submitted the comments based on Asian experience on flood to OECD on the necessity of the investment in flood control facilities in addition to the investment in capacity development with more attention to financing aspects to flood management.

 

   Majority of the submitted comments have been welcomed by OECD and adopted.

 

   The meeting was also a good opportunity to expand networking with international organizations which newly joined the 2nd phase of OECD WGI through exchanging the opinions on water management.


 

Photo of OECD WGI’s 7th Meeting in Den Haag, the Netherlands on 23-24 June, 2016

  • http://www.oecd.org/environment/stakeholder-engagement-for-inclusive-water-governance-9789264231122-en.htm
  • http://www.oecd.org/governance/oecd-principles-on-water-governance.htm
  • https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/waterandsanitation/hlpw
  • http://programme.worldwaterweek.org/event/5772
  • https://www.habitat3.org/
  • http://www.cop22.ma/